Conclusion

The drive felt as amazing as expected after the benchmark results. The only glaring point in testing was that boot racer only yielded a 10/11 second score. A lower time was achievable on RAIDed SATA 3G drives, as well as other SATA 6G SSDs. Including OCZ’s own Agility 3 series SSD. ATTO 4K writes never achieved the astounding rate they did on Crystal diskmark testing, as ATTO only uses a 4QD not a 32QD. NCQ is your friend, and the more threads you can throw at it the faster it will be for small files (up to 32 threads)

Performance Overview

The drive scores 1st place in PCMark testing, and in 4K writes almost across the board. AIDA was not as kind to the Vertex 3 despite posting top scores in read and linear write, and the random write dirty full and swapping a secure erase for a quick format (which, admittedly, would never happen to an enthusiast’s rig). This is not your Grandmother’s SSD, the performance of this drive is ADA drag race certified, but will require you know how to change the oil once in a while.

Price Overview

High performance comes with it high prices. While the Vertex 3 Max IOPs is priced well compared to the 6G SandForce market as a whole, the competition from OCZ’s 6G SandForce drives is extremely compelling. Currently, the “plainclothes” Agility 3 240GB can be purchased at Newegg $70 cheaper (and another $30 back in rebate), which gives even the sickest of hardware junkies pause to consider. As fast as the Agility 3 was, the Max IOPs is the better drive. Silver medal for cost

Aesthetic overview

Not very important with hard drives, as they should only be seen when you first install them. The design is great, the package looks excellent (as in it looks like a product you would spend $500 dollars on) but the bubbles in the top label are a detraction. Silver medal performance here. (No real impact on over all performance).

Subjective overview

Despite the terrible dirty state benchmarks, no hit in performance was felt on the SSD, despite installing and un-installing games, multiple applications open simultaneously and other daily tasks. A solid gold medal performance for the snap and thrill of the Max IOPs.

Award

Overall the OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPs edition gets the TechREACTION gold award for top level performance, and will be a must-have drive for competitive overclockers without having to drop thousands on a faster volatile solution. Performance nuts need apply as well.

The only cost effective head turns against purchase of the MaxIOPs comes from OCZ themselves, with the cheaper Vertex 3 and the much cheaper Agility 3 having nice rebates available on them at this time. The OWC drive reviewed previously has a performance comparative but carries a slightly higher price tag. If you’re still hankering for OCZ’s impressive drive, it can be found at Newegg, Amazon, and elsewhere online.

Thanks to OCZ technology for the review sample.

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